Bio

Michaelle Burstin is a partner and the global head of Brand, Marketing and Communications for William Blair. She is also a member of the extended leadership group. In 2023, Michaelle led the firm through an overhaul and launch of a new firm intranet. This updated platform offers employees globally a personalized, William Blair branded experience enabling a matrix flow of information to allow for quick access to relevant content with the goal to increase engagement. Michaelle brings decades of experience in branding, strategic marketing, and communications to her role. Since joining William Blair, Michaelle has continued to build a strategic central function by launching new marketing departments, upgrading the operations, digital, social, and technology infrastructure, and managing the team’s expanded responsibilities. Previously, she co-chaired the mission vision and values working group, and was a member of the risk committee, and the global inclusion council. Before joining William Blair, she held multiple senior leadership positions. She was previously the head of marketing at MSCI, responsible for developing and executing marketing and communication strategies for all global business lines. Michaelle previously spent 10 years at Credit Suisse in various leadership roles in marketing, branding, and communications at both the corporate level and in the investment bank. She was also a member of the fixed-income management committee and the operating committee. Michaelle was a managing director at Burson-Marsteller and Hill and Knowlton, two of the world's largest public relations and communications firms. There she developed strategic marketing plans for their largest clients and had responsibility for media relations, technology, crisis communications, and corporate communications. Earlier in her career, Michaelle worked as a political appointee for the Clinton administration as the director of Private and Public Sector Liaison with the United States Trade Representative in Washington D.C. and held a top-level security clearance. She was also the head of the media group at the Financial Relations Board and a producer and assignment editor at Fox news in California where she was nominated for a television Emmy. Michaelle is a board member to the Grant Park Music festival in Chicago. She has a B.A. from the University of California, Berkeley and an M.A. from the American University, where she graduated with Phi Kappa Phi honors.